By Christopher Tetteh
Odomase, Bono, June 02, GNA – Mrs Francisca Patoah Gyarko, a Principal Regulatory Officer at the Bono Regional Office of the Food and Drugs Authority (FDA) has called for radical measures to control the growing trend of substance and illicit drugs abuse among young people.
She said the nation also ought to put in pragmatic measures to stem the use of tobacco among the youthful population too.
Mrs Gyarko made the call in an interview with the Ghana News Agency (GNA) on the side-lines of a sensitisation forum on the consequences of the use of tobacco and substance abuse held at Odomase in the Sunyani West Municipality.
The Authority organised the forum on the local theme, “No Tobacco” to sensitise the students of the Odomaseman Senior High School to mark the 2025 commemoration of the World No Tobacco Day on the theme, “Unmasking the appeal, exposing industry tactics on tobacco and nicotine products”.
Describing drug abuse and smoking as an “alarming epidemic,” Mrs Gyarko said it caused millions of deaths each year, hence, the need to protect the “youth and children from the deceptive tactics of the tobacco industry”.
He said children and adolescents are susceptible to the “manipulative tactics employed by the tobacco industry,” and called for stricter regulations on packaging, advertisement, and marketing of tobacco products.
In a speech read on her behalf, Mrs Akua Amponsaa Owusu, the Bono Regional Head of the FDA said the use and abuse of tobacco and illicit drugs had huge health implications on users, saying, “it is problem affects the health and well-being of millions of people around the world”.
“Tar, nicotine, carbon monoxide, and countless other harmful substances find their way into our lungs, damaging delicate tissues and increasing the risk of respiratory diseases of lung cancer, Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease and asthma,” she stated.
Mrs Owusu said tobacco use was linked to various forms of cancer of the mouth, throat, bladder, and pancreas, and significantly raised the risk of heart diseases, stroke, and other cardiovascular conditions.
Nana Ama Gyankoma Asirifi, the Bono Regional Health Promotion Officer cautioned students and the youth in particular against substance abuse, and tobacco use, saying “tobacco contains over 100 dangerous chemicals harmful to the body”.
GNA
Edited by Dennis Peprah/Linda Asante Agyei